NEWS FLASH: Facebook Pages Can't Send Messages

Reader Kevin Evanetski, a social media strategist and founder of Social Yeah, tipped us off. He said that while managing his Facebook brand page, he clicked on “edit page,” followed by resources, and saw the following message:

After clicking “read more,” he was directed to Facebook’s help center, where he read:

When we checked on this while surfing Facebook using the identity of our own page, we discovered that the messaging icon has already disappeared from the navigation bar. Perhaps the September 30 deadline — noted in the help center — marks when the capability will disappear for all pages.

While this may sound like a big loss for marketers and page administrators in particular, the actual impact is minimal.

Most Facebook users haven’t even seen any of the messages coming from pages because the missives tend to land in people’s “other” folders, a polite euphemism for spam.

Of course, the disappearance of messaging by pages effectively makes it more compelling for marketers to buy advertisements. Indeed, Facebook’s help center suggests that page administrator consider buying ads, including sponsored stories; wall posts are also suggested first.

We wonder whether the disappearance of messaging by pages will somehow become clearer at Facebook’s f8 developer conference.

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